🔍 Overview
When deploying your Knowledge Base Trust FAQ schema, you may encounter a deployment error that reads something like "questions should have answers" — even when all your visible Q&A pairs appear to be fully filled in. This article explains why this error occurs and how to resolve it quickly.
⚠️ Why This Error Happens
The "questions should have answers" error is a schema validation failure. It does not mean that your completed Q&A entries are incorrect. It means that one or more empty Q&A slots exist in your deployment set alongside your filled entries.
This is a common source of confusion: the platform may display 8 completed Q&A pairs, but if additional blank slots are present in the same deployment set — even if they appear empty or unused — the schema validator treats them as incomplete entries and blocks deployment.
Common reasons empty slots appear:
- Extra rows were added while building out Q&As and left blank.
- A Q&A entry was partially started (e.g., a question was typed but no answer was saved) and then abandoned.
- Slots were duplicated accidentally during editing.
✅ How to Fix the Error
- Navigate to OTTO SEO → Knowledge Base in the left sidebar of your Search Atlas dashboard.
- Open the FAQ deployment set that is producing the error.
- Scroll through all Q&A slots — including those below your completed entries — and look for any rows where the question, the answer, or both fields are empty.
- Select each empty slot and click Delete to remove it entirely. Do not leave any blank rows in the set.
- Once all empty slots have been removed, save your changes.
- Attempt deployment again. The schema validator should now pass without errors.
💡 Tips to Prevent This Error in Future
- Only create a new Q&A slot when you are ready to fill it in completely. Avoid saving partial entries.
- Before every deployment, do a quick scroll to confirm no empty rows exist below your last completed Q&A pair.
- If you need a placeholder while drafting content, write a temporary answer so the slot is never truly empty.
- After deleting a Q&A, check that the slot itself is also removed — not just cleared of its content.
🚫 What This Error Is Not
It is important to note that this error is not related to Google Business Profile publishing. The Knowledge Base Trust FAQ schema is a separate feature and workflow. If you have seen guidance suggesting this error is connected to Google Business Profile, that information is incorrect. This error is caused exclusively by empty Q&A slots within the FAQ schema deployment set, and is resolved by deleting those slots as described above.
🙋 Still Seeing the Error?
If you have deleted all empty slots and the error persists, it is possible a hidden or cached slot is still being detected by the validator. Try the following:
- Refresh the page and reopen the FAQ deployment set before attempting deployment again.
- Check whether any Q&A entry has a question filled in but is missing a saved answer (or vice versa) — both fields must be fully completed and saved.
- If the error continues after these steps, our team can inspect the deployment set directly on your account.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.